


Mistakes Were Made

by FriedCatfish



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, fanfiction nobody asked for, i'm pretty certain this is the worst idea i've ever had?, unreasonably dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-06 19:05:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5427245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriedCatfish/pseuds/FriedCatfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They only killed three people, and it was pretty obviously in self-defense. None of what happened after that seemed fair.</p><p>But the situation hadn't been fair from the start, had it?</p><p>Fairness, Kid decided, didn't matter anymore. Justice didn't matter. What mattered was what people said Undyne and the king had fought for: the Underground's hopes and dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistakes Were Made

**Author's Note:**

> "but maxie, don't you already have two ongoing fics to update, and should you really have been writing fic at all since you had final exams this past week"
> 
> this is fair and true. however
> 
> the fanbase is Clearly clamoring for monster kid-centric sadfic

For what it was worth, Kid never really thought it was  _their fault._ They considered the idea a few times, especially right after the news about Asgore and Undyne got around, but frankly... if that other kid had been strong enough to kill Undyne, let alone a boss monster, what could  **they** have done with their one cheap bullet pattern and two left feet? Even if they had gotten out of Undyne's way, it's not like she would have fared any better on the bridge than she did near the end of Waterfall.

And besides... they were  **right.** That human had saved their life, and hadn't harmed another soul in Waterfall, even if nobody else cared about that.

Kid eventually came to the conclusion that they hadn't made a wrong decision.  **Nobody** had. The human was just trying to get home, and defending themselves when it looked like they were going to be killed. Asgore and Undyne were just trying to free everybody. Mettaton was trying to prevent a war. The old queen was just trying to give people a new kind of hope, and maybe prevent anything like this from happening again.

Everybody did stuff that was perfectly sensible and moral, and the result was an underground with no leaders and no direction and no human souls. None of it seemed fair, but maybe fairness wasn't what mattered. What mattered was what people said Undyne and the king had fought for: the Underground's hopes and dreams.

And anyone much older than Kid, well... they seemed to have let go of those entirely.

* * *

As usual, the one channel on TV was showing nothing of interest. Kid's whole family was watching anyway, because what else were they going to do? As Kid understood it, a lot of people felt like anything that might actually be interesting seemed like way too much effort. They couldn't understand it, but they could hardly blame anyone either.

(They really hoped they weren't that cynical when they grew up. It couldn't really be  **inevitable,** right?)

Mettaton had never really been interested in the concept of "co-stars," so after he broke down, MTT Enterprises really didn't really have a huge talent pool to draw from. There was usually an hour of stand-up comedy: twenty minutes of Snowy's dad telling incredibly sad anecdotes, twenty minutes of open mic, and twenty minutes of Sans getting booed and called a human-loving Loud Beeping Noise.

(Kid missed Sans. And Papyrus, too. They still visited Snowdin, but not often and never for a very long time. Not to mention, Sans never met anyone's eyes these days. If he wasn't staring at the ground, he was -- for whatever reason -- checking the time and date on his phone.)

Then you had a talk show, except the interviewer was super boring and (with no celebrities and no political figures) there was really nobody in the Underground worth interviewing. There'd never really been any news underground, either, except when a human fell down, and the new anchor didn't have the charisma needed to make it  **sound** like there was actually something going on.

Cooking With A Killer Robot had actually gotten a lot better, though? Mainly because the new celebrity chef was really angry about everything and would often mess up in ways Kid didn't even know you  **could** mess up, which basically turned the show into slapstick. Kid always suspected the chef knew what was going on, that the whole thing was an act; the faces he pulled seemed a little too perfect, his rants a little too measured. Still, it was funnier than Mr. Drake's entire set.

Other than that, a lot of it was just... test patterns, or reruns. Usually when the reruns came on, Kid's mom would just turn the TV off entirely. Nobody could stand to look at Mettaton anymore.

Eventually, they started to worry. Shouldn't Mettaton be fixed by now? Maybe they should go see cousin Al. They weren't nearly as worried about sneaking out as they used to be... though they did make a mental note to take things a little slower on bridges and stairs.

Kid was pretty sure their folks wouldn't even notice they were gone, anyway.

* * *

 

Alphys's lab was even messier than Kid remembered it being. A  **lot** messier. The ground was covered in crumpled and torn sheets of paper, and machines she'd started and never finished, and piles of scrap and junk she hadn't even begun repurposing into anything cool yet.

They were pretty sure she hadn't changed out of that specific lab coat since they'd seen her last. It was stained and wrinkled and all sorts of stuff they always sort of assumed lab coats were specifically made to  **resist** being.

Alphys didn't acknowledge them when they came in; she was too focused on her work, staring at the blueprints on her desk and running a hand through her frills and looking like she was about a second away from straight-up bursting into tears. 

Kid ran right up to her and shouted, "Yo, Al! Mom and dad wanted to know if you can come by for dinner!" It wasn't  **technically** true, but they did always like having her over, and maybe it'd help them all feel a little better. Kid was sure they wouldn't mind having an unexpected guest, and Alphys apparently hadn't left the lab in quite a while, so...

"Busy." She didn't even turn her head to acknowledge them.

"Are you su--"

 **"Yes.** Please go home, Kid."

Kid very deliberately did not move an inch, though they paused before continuing to speak.

"...So, um. Do you... know when Mettaton might be fixed?"

Electricity coursed through Alphys's claw; the air was filled with the smell of burning ink and plastic. She took a deep breath.

"Mettaton's... Mettaton's b-beyond repair, Kid."

"WHAT?!" Kid practically fell on their face from the news alone. She'd said right there, on live television, that she could fix him! "But... but you said you, you could..."

She shut her eyes as tightly as she could. "Yeah, I  _lied,_ alright? I'm -- I'm lying g-garbage, and the... the one thing I r-really needed to t-tell the truth about, I never... I nev... er got the chance to, okay? Is that what you, what you w-wanted to hear, Kid?"

Kid knew what _definitely wasn't_ the right thing to say, but they couldn't resist saying it anyway, telling themselves that the answer would help her steel herself, that their cousin would be able to bounce back from all this because she just hadn't _realized_ how easy it was yet. It was really dumb and they knew it was really dumb but it was like they just couldn't stop their mouth from moving. "But, it's okay, though, Al, 'cause you could... make a new one, though, right? I mean --"

"Kid, I said I'm b-busy. Tell... t-tell Om and Jenny that I'll c-call them later, okay?"

"...Okay." They gently pressed their face against Alphys's side, the gesture that the family had decided would be understood as a "hug in spirit."

Alphys managed to keep her crying silent until Kid left the lab.

* * *

It pretty much went on like that for a while. The royal guard... or ex-Guard, Kid guessed... just sort of hung around Grillby's and played the lowest-stakes poker imaginable. The married ones didn't even act all mushy and gross anymore. Their folks and sister were quieter than they'd ever been before. The cinnamon buns were always room temperature instead of fresh out of the oven, and the icing was all off-kilter; when they took a walk up to Hotland just to have something to do, they would always see half-eaten and barely-glittered glamburgers; Gerson had shuttered his store altogether, and mostly people would only ever see him limping along the shore, stealing glances at his own reflection.

You didn't have to be an adult to get the picture.

But after a few weeks, Kid started to notice something. See, they had done their best to keep their hopes up. Maybe it was easy 'cause they hadn't spent so much time Underground, yet; not enough time to get sick of it. But it was  _contagious._ Whenever Kid acted like Undyne, or talked about how they would keep the spirit of the Royal Guard alive even though it was disbanded... people around them seemed to be really energized. Not just the kids and teenagers, either, but grown-ups, too, who'd pretty much ignored them when they played before. It was strange.

(The exception was Alphys. Whenever Kid played like that around Alphys, she got really quiet. Sometimes she left the room entirely.)

But Kid noticed. And... a lot of the time, they hadn't seen people that energetic or happy in a long time, even if they started sulking again pretty quickly.

So they made a decision. Even if they were only nine, well... nobody else was stepping up to the plate, right? So Kid would have to get as strong as Undyne, and then maybe even as strong as Asgore, and... well, if it wasn't enough in the end, they could still make people hopeful for a  **little** while, right?

But if they wanted to get as strong as Undyne, there was only one way to do it.

Kid had play-fought before, but now they had to get **serious**. That meant finding something they didn't have to hold back on, something they didn't have to play nice with. They headed into Waterfall and found the dummy that Undyne used to practice on, the one possessed by a ghost. They used to move around a lot, and like, pick through the trash to see if they could find knives, but now they pretty much just sat around by Undyne's old, empty house. Occasionally they'd wander over to the snail farm, and just sort of stand there and stare at the pink house there before leaving. It was weird.

"Yo! Dummy!"

"WHO THE Heck are... ugh. Forget it. Forget it, forget it, forget it..." Kid frowned. If even the dummy didn't have it in them to get mad anymore

Kid stood up as straight as they could, puffing their chest out. "I wanna practice my moves on you!"

The dummy blinked (somehow? weren't its eyes, like... buttons?). "Your, uh. Moves?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna come up with some awesome bullet patterns, and get really good at kickboxing... or, uh, kicking, at least! So if a human ever falls down here, I can..." Kid hesitated. They could what? The last kid had been really nice, and then, when Undyne fought them...

 _Maybe this is a really bad idea. Maybe I'm just gonna make things worse, like Undyne did._ They shook their head.

 **Somebody** had to give the Underground hope and direction.

"So if a human ever falls down here, I can... kill them."

"...That's dark. That is  **dark,** kid."

Kid laughed a little, which felt strange, because they knew it wasn't funny and they were feeling less happy than they had in days. Maybe other people were rubbing off on them, too. "Yeah, I guess." They took a deep breath. "...Can I practice on you, though?"

The dummy gave an approximation of an armless shrug. "I got nothing better to do. Do your worst, kid."

* * *

It was exactly two years, six months and eleven days after that. Monster Kid had been  _counting,_ very carefully tallying things up on a calendar. How much time jogging, how much time jumping, the best bullet pattern they'd managed. Had to keep it going up, no matter what.

They had been doing their best to help people near them, and it was something. Snowdin... well, it wasn't half as lively as it had been back when people didn't hate Papyrus and Sans's lack of guts, but it was doing better than Hotland.  **Certainly** it was doing better than Waterfall. Maybe the people around town didn't have hope anymore, but they had _something_  pushing them along, at least. They were smiling even before Kid got to them, sometimes, and they were less worried that they'd lose whatever they still had. A few people were even talking about clearing out some of the forest, expanding the town, because if they couldn't get out of the Underground then they could at least use more of it for living space. Kid had been helping out, carrying tools and food and lumber to and fro.

Kid felt like they were really making a difference. They felt like they were being a hero, even if it wasn't the same way that Undyne or Gerson or Asgore had been heroes. Maybe it was a better way, a more sustainable way, a way that didn't run the risk of anyone getting hurt.

Then came the rumors. "Someone in Waterfall fell down," they said. They weren't old, and obviously no human had been there to kill them, they just... died of despair, was the consensus. It killed the mood instantly.

Kid didn't want to believe it. It had to be a mistake, or... some awful joke, maybe. They went to Waterfall themselves to check.

Turned out it was Shyren.

Kid wasn't even a teenager yet, but they'd be damned if they were going to wait any longer. Something had to be done. Immediately.

* * *

The hand-woman sighed audibly as she brought the oversized microphone back towards her desk. Nobody bother calling her out on it. "That was, uh... Bratty and Catty, who... go through our garbage, or something, I guess. Up next... dammit." She had to rub her face over the shifting network of braille embedded in the desk; times like this, she  _really_ wished she had the necessary anatomy to squint at a teleprompter. "Yes, alright, up next, the people of Snowdin all love him... he's shaped like a weird UFO with legs or something I guess... he has, of course, not done or achieved anything noteworthy..."

The studio doors slammed open, revealing a young lizard perfectly balanced on their left leg, the right outstretched, foot pointing towards the host. "Yo! Mind if I bring some  _excitement_ to this show?"

The studio audience erupted in shock, i.e., the one guy who wasn't asleep gasped. Maybe. It might've been a hiccup or a cough or something. Kid ran over to the stage, leaping into the air, doing a somersault and landing right on the edge of the couch next to Bratty, whose eyes went wide.

The hostess, not having any real reason to stick to the script (and, frankly, willing to do anything to avoid  _another_ Jerry interview) gave a little nod. "I see, a surprise guest! So, what's your name, kid?"

"Uh! That! It's that!" Silence. Nobody got it. "Kid, I mean, is what my name is. My parents gave King Asgore the honor of naming me, y'know! But, uh, see, that's actually why I'm here." They slouched a bit, tried to play it cool and casual. "See, aside from that lady we sent back to the ruins, there's no Boss Monsters left in the Underground, right? So I figured, we gotta have  **somebody** to lead us, right?"

"Are you saying that you, an... eleven?.."

" **Twelve-** year old kid am gonna be the new boss of the underground, right! And that's what you can call me! Monster Boss!"

Deafening, crushing silence. Boss was undeterred.  _Whatever. It'll take a while for people to get used to having such a cool Boss and being hopeful again and stuff!_

"So here's the deal -- hey, uh, could you get that mic a little closer?" The hostess obliged, and ~~Kid~~ **Boss** , _it was_ _ **Boss**_ _now, they had to remember that,_  winked at her. "Thanks, ma'am. Anyway, I'm gonna go live in New Home now! I'm gonna sit on the throne and everything! And, uh, if nobody comes to take me off by tomorrow morning, I'm just gonna assume that nobody's got a problem with me being the new Boss! Got it, dudes?" They stared straight at the camera, fire on their eyes, grin almost as wide as Undyne's had been (exercising the facial muscles had been 5-10 minutes of their daily routine). "If you  **do** have a problem -- think you can do a better job or whatever -- you know where to find me!"

* * *

They were almost disappointed. Quite a few monsters showed up, but... most of them were just sort of standing around, waiting to see what would happen. A couple meeker folks, some Whims and Molds and kittens and pups, were already kneeling.

 _This can't really be happening._ In spite of everything, it didn't feel right. Maybe Boss had been  **hoping** for more resistance, hoping that someone would kick them off the throne and take over, and then they could just head the Royal Guard. They were well aware that even that would be a lot to handle, but...  _like, Captain of the Guard still seems way easier than being king. God. Maybe I messed up._

Of those who actually did challenge them, most of them were easily scared off with a flashy bullet pattern or a bit of talk. There was a seahorse there -- Aaron, if Boss remembered correctly -- who looked pretty imposing, but he seemed to be more interested in looking good than actually being strong. Didn't matter; Boss's now fantastic calves and abs had him beat in both departments, and he soon slunk off, defeated. (There were some advantages to not having any biceps or triceps. You could dedicate more time to the rest of your muscles.)

Surprisingly enough, the only real resistance came in the form of the old Royal Guard. Uncle Deltos and his "partner" weren't there, of course (which was good, because Boss  **definitely** didn't want to fight his own family), but the dogs were, with Dogaressa at the head of the pack.

Boss didn't really know what to say, besides "Yo. You here to fight?"

Dogamy shook his head. "You're just a kid, Kid." Dogaressa added, "(You're in over your head. Go home to your family.)"

Boss... well, they felt mad, legitimately  _angry,_ for the first time in a while. They knew the dogs were  **right,** of course, but... well, it all came back to the realization that started the whole thing, wasn't it? Boss wasn't doing anything wrong, but neither were they.

At least... if they were willing to clean up the mess. If they were just going to send Boss home and then leave everyone without a path to follow,  _that_ would be wrong. "And when I go, which one of you is gonna take over, huh?"

The dogs all looked back and forth at each other (except for Doggo, who looked back and forth between Dogaressa and the flowers on the ground). None of them were willing to say anything, or make the first move.

Boss tilted their head towards their shoulder, rolling their neck a little bit. "Man, you either give me a good reason to get off, or you  _make_ me get off, alright?" They hopped into a battle stance, and a static charge began to fill the air.  _(Smells like ozone,_ someone might have said, if they stayed behind instead of leaving alongside the human.)

Lesser Dog was the first to run in, sword at the ready. Boss's foot shot straight into his armor, knocking him down to the ground. " **Bad** dog. Bad form, too." He whimpered, neck retreating into his armor like he was a frightened turtle.

Doggo grumbled. "Come  _on,_ L.D., you're gonna give up that easily?" The other dog just retreated further, his eyes and ears barely poking out of his breastplate. Doggo sighed and stepped forward. "Alright, Kid. Your funeral."

Dogamy reached out to stop him, but it was too late. A series of spectral swords in blue and white were sent flying through the air; Boss considered just leaping over them, but some of them were pointing straight up, tall enough that it was out of the question. They did things properly, weaving through the gaps between blades, stopping and starting on a dime. Doggo couldn't keep it up for very long; he had never been the strongest of the Guard to start with, and he hadn't practiced his art for a long while. As soon as he broke down, panting, Boss ran up and kicked the knives straight out of his paws.

Greater Dog moved in, raising his spear high. He paused a moment, seeming almost meditative;  _counting to ten, keeping his temper,_ Boss guessed. There definitely wasn't any killing intent as the spear came towards them... not that it mattered, because Boss just dropped to the ground and sent out a spark. It wasn't particularly powerful, but it was enough: it traveled up the spear and into G.D.'s armor, zapping him from all sides. There was a yipe, and he scrambled out of the armor, running over to roll in the flowers.

"Anyone else?"

Not a peep. Dogamy had already laid down his axe, and while she briefly glared at him, Dogaressa seemed unwilling to fight without her partner.

"Awesome! In that case, looks like I'm the Boss now! We got a broadcast in here?" Boss craned their neck around, and eventually caught side of a giant hand waving/nodding at them; next to her, a camera trained right on their face. They shut their eyes and smiled serenely.

"Alright, dudes. First order of business: If we're gonna fight any humans that fall down here, we know that the Guard isn't gonna be enough. We're gonna need a proper _army_."

* * *

Boss hadn't even gotten used to the new name when the news came down. The queen had destroyed the entrance to the ruins. Now the area was cut off from the rest of the Underground from a massive pile of rubble.

 _Shoulda seen it coming,_ they told themselves. They wanted to leave it at that. It would've been  **easy** to leave it at that, wouldn't it?

But... for three short, beautiful days, people had hope again. Boss couldn't let everyone down like that, not so soon after all the big promises and boasts they made. They'd really messed up this time, worse than they'd ever done by sneaking out or stumbling.

They told themselves they didn't have a choice, and tried to shout loud enough that the whole capital could hear it.

"Then we'll just have to move all that stuff out of the way, right?!"

* * *

It took the better part of two years. Boss spent as much of that time as possible on training. Drills. Turning not just themselves, but anyone who'd fight alongside them into a deadly fighting force.

A long time ago, they'd read a book in the librarby that talked about how monsters would be hurt more easily by someone with a lot of killing intent. So that was a big part of it, too. "No matter what," they said, "you  _cannot negotiate._ You can't take surrender, okay?" A large part of the daily regimen, actually, was focused around that. Saying awful things to each other, even though everyone knew nobody meant it, to practice getting angry. Continuing to beat on the dummies -- there were three, now, though one seemed like they really didn't want to be there? -- no matter how much they pleaded for MERCY.

History lessons. Reminders that no matter how good a human's intentions, they were still too dangerous. Couldn't be allowed to live, because then things like  **this** happened, despite everyone's best intentions. No half measures.

And, as childish as it felt sometimes, people got stronger. The army got bigger. And Boss cemented their position, bullet patterns getting bigger and bigger and more and more elaborate, until they could carpet an entire room with spikes, until they could call down lightning with almost no warning at all. They had armor commissioned, all function over form with the exception of a magnificent horned helmet. It seemed like a reasonable tribute to Asgore, and to...

Well. There wouldn't be any Boss Monsters left, soon. Any  **real** ones, at least. So it was a tribute to all of them, Boss supposed.

When the army finally passed into the ruins, everyone cheered. Boss wasn't happy, so they tried to shut out the noise. They were here because they **had** to be. They just walked forward, silent, and people followed.

It smelled surprisingly good for a place that had been sealed off for so many years, like spices and sweets, like fresh flowers and just a little bit of perfume, like old and well-loved books.

But then it smelled like bones.

"hey, kid. i'm gonna have to stop you there."

Kid looked away, but as soon as he did, Sans was already there. Eye sockets black like bottomless pits. "...It's Boss now, Sans." Their soul felt cold and heavy. It already had, of course, but now it felt cold and heavy in a very  **literal** sense.

"huh, really? how do i know you're not _kidding_?" He winked. "then again, i suppose it'd be a lot easier for me to pull your leg than the other way around."

Boss wasn't in the mood for jokes. Jokes only reminded them of the gravity of the leap they were taking -- dammit, now  **they** were doing it. They focused, a ball of cracking electricity forming and expanding in front of their face. "You can't win this fight, Sans. Please just step aside."

"well, uh, you're the boss. said so yourself."

The skeleton took the first strike, and Boss really didn't have the heart to stop him. It didn't end up mattering much; the patterns were difficult to dodge, sometimes nearly impossible, but when the actual attacks connected... they stung, sure, but nothing like they were expecting. Was their killing intent so strong, so soon? Or... was Sans's just that weak?

"heh. that expression..." His eyes were lit up again. "...you're wondering why i can't muster up the energy to really hurt you, is that right?"

Boss opened their mouth, then promptly closed it. Talking wouldn't do any good; it'd just make it harder to do what had to be done. They lowered their head and charged forward --

\-- and for the first time in years, they nearly fell flat on their face. In a flash, their target had gotten behind them.

"y'know, i tried to get papyrus to let me borrow his cape." The skeleton summoned another wave of tiny bones, sending them all straight towards Boss. "would've made for a great bullfighting gag, y'know?"

"C'mon, dude, just give up." They were doing some dodging of their own, now, starting to get the hang of which color came when and how to weave in between the walls. They even managed to keep their balance when their soul turned red again and sent them lurching forward. "You're not gonna be able to stop me, 'cause... you can't really bring yourself to hate me, can you?"

Sans sidestepped a tremendous thunderbolt  _(how, that shouldn't be **possible,**  there wasn't enough  **warning** to dodge, he started moving before I even fired it)_  and shrugged. "see, uh, that's the thing." From off towards the ruins proper, there came a rumbling noise. "fact is, you're right. only two people i've ever hated, and neither of them is exactly here right now. that being said..." This time Boss brought spikes up from underfoot, which Sans effortlessly leapt over. "i know i can't beat you, so i figured i might as well waste your time. i'm pretty good at that, don't you think?"

Boss had to give it to him. Sans wasn't half-bad at dodging. But the guy only had so much HP, and he could only dodge so many attacks at once.

Boss jerked his head back to the army behind him. "Everyone who can, pile in. We're going to hit him with everything we've got."

A rabbit near the front placed a hand on their shoulder. "Boss, uh... don't you think that's a little overkill?"

The lizard gritted their teeth. "No half measures. No taking chances."

The army came down on Sans like a truck. The third turn, a dozen monsters were fighting him; the fourth turn, nearly fifty; then a hundred, then as many as could fit in the room, everyone packed shoulder to shoulder, a massive wall of interlocking bullet patterns shooting right at Sans.

He couldn't keep dodging. The hits piled on, one after the other, taking off HP in... much bigger chunks than the skeleton had expected. He started to sweat, and he barely kept the smile on his face. Cuts and fractures began to form all across his body, ketchup trickling from each one. He raised his hand to attack, only for Boss to charge him, flinging him into the air. Sans smacked against the cave ceiling and practically split in two; the noise of breaking bone echoed through the room, followed immediately by more booming and rumbling.

He didn't come back down.

"jeez, kid... you better come set things right soon."

"That's the  **idea,** " Boss spat. Sans...

Sans started  _cackling,_ louder than anyone had ever heard him laugh before.

"you thought i was talking to -- oh, man. right. your name, uh -- yeah, sorry. anyway." He cut himself off in an instant, his eyes going dark again. "i know what you're going to do to toriel. just... do me a favor and leave my brother out of this." He let himself have one last chuckle. "at least  **one** person i give a shit about should live, huh?"

Then came that awful whooshing sound, and ketchup was dripping from the ceiling while dust was slowly floating to the ground. Boss nodded. Papyrus... Papyrus shouldn't be trouble.

As for the Queen, well... before they could make it to the stairs, there was another rumble, louder than either of the others, and then the sound of crashing and rolling rocks. Too late. Once again, the army was blocked by a pile of rubble.

_We killed him... **I** killed him for nothing. It didn't make a difference at all._

They sighed, turning to face the army behind them. No one was happy with this. In spite of everything, Boss raised their head high. If they just pretended things were still okay, pretended that hadn't just happened... maybe everybody else could do the same.

"They can't keep us out forever, dudes. Let's get digging."

* * *

The second excavation was a bit quicker. Part of this was that there simply wasn't as much wreckage; part of it was that people had gotten in a lot of practice last time. They were stronger, now, and knew how to use their time better.

When they got through to the other side, climbed to the top of the stairs... Toriel wasn't there, at first, like Boss expected. They didn't see her until they swept the house; she was in her study, writing something in her diary.

She spoke without turning to acknowledge them. "So. This is it, then? You are prepared to kill an old woman who only did what was right?"

Boss opened their mouth to speak, but got cut off by a plant monster who charged in front of them. "Keep back, milord. We can't afford to lose you. As for  _you,_ " they spat, "you're the reason we lost our hope!  **You're** the reason the king and Mettaton and Undyne died!"

"You can blame me for their deaths, if you wish. You cannot blame me for losing your hope." She turned, scowling at all of them. A chill ran up Boss's spine. "I offered you a new way to live, and if you would have been  **patient,** more humans would have fallen down. We could have waited for them to die natural deaths, and harvested their souls  _after_ the fact. No one would have to die, and based on precedent, we would have been out within the century, if not earlier."

"Yo,  **some** of us can't afford to wait that long!" Boss was livid, barely managing to stay in place, because that warrior was  _right,_ if they died then things would be even worse than if they'd never tried anything at all. "Someone died just 'cause of how  _miserable and hopeless_ they were, and... if I hadn't stopped it, more people would've. So..." Boss sighed. "You aren't wrong. But neither am I, alright? I'm just... doing what's necessary, man."

"If that is truly what you believe..." Toriel turned to face him directly, eyes like frozen fire. "Kill me."

"What?!"

"An old woman like me... has not much left to live for, does she?" She laughed. "My husband has been killed. My best friend has been killed. Nearly everyone in the Underground hates me, and now an entire army surrounds me. I do not have a chance to survive, regardless. So I will make this  **easy** on you." Her stare was like a drill shoved into Boss's heart, and they wanted nothing more than to give up, go home, pretend nothing had ever happened.

That was what the queen wanted, too, they could  _tell,_ but... they couldn't afford to let her win, in this case, no matter what her intentions were, no matter how much they wanted to.

A single massive spike went through her chest.

Without another word, without another sound, the last of the Boss Monsters turned to ash.

* * *

It didn't take long to find him. The ruins were only so big, and you could hear his sobs echo through the streets. When they caught up to him he was standing in a corner, all but rooted to the ground, clinging to a basketball for dear life. He was only a child. Eight, nine, ten at the absolute most.

Boss could tell, because he was wearing a striped shirt.

When the human saw Boss approach, he slammed his eyes shut, biting his lip to keep from screaming. "Yo, easy, easy, kid, okay? Put down the ball." Boss got down on one knee, trying to put on a friendly face. The horned helmet might have made that a bit difficult, but all the same, the child was quieting down a bit, opening up their eyes, lowering their weapon. "That's right, dude. It's going to be alright."

The kid did his best to say something. "T... Tor... Toriel, said, she said, she said that --"

"Shhhh, I know. Try and calm down, okay?" The kid hesitantly nodded, wiping snot and tears away with the sleeve of their shirt. "Yo, listen... it was nice meeting you, and I'm really sorry about all this, man." Boss looked over their shoulder -- it felt as if the entire army was unable to look, yet at the same time, as if they were all staring holes in the back of their head. They turned back to the kid, who looked almost calm. "...It's not fair that you had to go through all this. Trust me, I know it's not."

The sound of thunder filled the air as spikes and sparks shot through the child's body. He fell limply to the ground, and his SOUL -- pale blue and quivering -- slowly began to rise.

Boss closed their eyes and stepped forward, standing directly over the child's body. People said that Asgore had never actually absorbed any of the souls he'd taken. Never gained the strength they could have offered him. Boss couldn't afford to take that same risk.

They felt warmth and a chill at the same time, like they were in bed with a terrible fever. They felt reserves of magical power they couldn't have imagined -- reserves of magical power that were far, far too much for someone as young as them.

Boss crouched down and grabbed the child's striped shirt in their teeth, then jerked their head upwards, flinging the body up into the air and catching it on their back. No one had removed the coffins from New Home, and ever since the last human had left the Underground, they were empty. It was time to put them to use again.

It was only fair.


End file.
